The subject of the present invention in general pertains to a new Input-Output facility design that exploits high bandwidth integrated network adapters.
In a network computing environment, multitudes of commands and requests for retrieval and storage of data are processed every second. To properly address the complexity of routing these commands and requests, environments with servers have traditionally offered integrated network connectivity to allow direct attachments of clients such as Local Area Networks (LANs). Given the size of most servers, the number of clients usually is in the range of hundreds to thousands and the bandwidth required in the 10-100 Mbits/sec range. However, in recent years the servers have grown and the amount of data they are required to handle has grown with them. As a result, the existing I/O architectures need to be modified to support this order of magnitude increase in the bandwidth.
In addition, new Internet applications have increased the demand for improved latency. The adapters must support a larger number of users and connections to consolidate the network interfaces which are visible externally. The combination of all the above requirements presents a unique challenge to server I/O subsystems.
Furthermore, in large environments such as International Business Machines Enterprise System Architecture/390 (Enterprise System Architecture/390 is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation), there are additional requirements that the I/O subsystem must remain consistent with existing support. Applications must continue to run unmodified, and error recovery and dynamic configuration must be preserved or even improved. Sharing of I/O resources must be enabled as well as the integrity of the data being sent or received. This presents new and complex challenges that need to be resolved.
In order to achieve bandwidths which are dramatically higher and still achieve other required challenges, a new system architecture is needed.
This application is related to the following copending applications: PO9-99-013, 09/253,246 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,397,350; PO9-99-014, Ser. No. 09/253,250; PO9-99-015, Ser. No. 09/253,247 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,345,327; PO9-99-016, Ser. No. 09/253,248 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,332,171; PO9-99-017, Ser. No. 09/252,712 now U.S Pat. No. 6,401,145; PO9-99-018, Ser. No. 09/252,552 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,345,324; PO9-99-019, Ser. No. 09/252,728 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,345,325; PO9-99-020, Ser. No. 09/252,730 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,345,326; PO9-99-022, Ser. No. 09/253,286 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,324,600; PO9-99-023, Ser. No. 09/252,542 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,345,241; PO9-99-024, Ser. No. 09/253,249 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,339,801; PO9-99-025, Ser. No. 09/252,556 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,339,802; PO9-99-026, Ser. No. 09/253,993 now U.S. Pat. No341,321; PO9-99-027, Ser. No. 09/253,658 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,321,350; PO9-99-028, Ser. No. 09/252,555 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,345,329; PO9-99-029, Ser. No. 09/255,641; PO9-99-030, Ser. No. 09/255,640; and PO9-99-031, Ser. No. 09/252,727 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,339,803.
A method and an apparatus for providing configuration information without using a configuration file and using a Queued-Direct Input-Output device in a network computing environment having a plurality of hosts and at least one Gateway attachment and a channel interface. A set of special tables and commands at is provided at initialization time over the channel interface which in turn provides all configuration information. The information can be updated dynamically in these tables and for these commands at any time after initialization when information needs to be added, deleted or modified.